Sarwar Jahan, Tahirpur (Sunamganj) 

A celebratory sightseeing trip turned into a tragedy when an eight-year-old girl named Nijhum Sarkar was killed after accidentally falling onto the exposed, running engine of a tourist houseboat in Tanguar Haor. 

The fatal accident occurred at around 3:00 PM on Friday as the child, along with her mother and relatives, was returning from the deeper pockets of the wetland area aboard a houseboat named Bhromon Shoily.

The deceased child was identified as the daughter of Swapan Chandra Sarkar, a Sub-Inspector (SI) of the Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) currently deployed at the Sylhet court, and Nipa Rani Talukdar. The family hails from Kamlabaj village in Dharmapasha Upazila under Sunamganj district. Sub-Inspector Pankaj Das of the Tahirpur Police Station formally confirmed the tragic details of the incident on Friday evening.

According to the victim's father, SI Swapan Chandra Sarkar, a group of ten family members, including his wife Nipa Rani Talukdar and daughter Nijhum, had boarded the Bhromon Shoily houseboat—which is owned by a close relative—on Friday morning from Tahirpur ghat for a day-long pleasure cruise around Tanguar Haor. After spending the day sightseeing, bathing in the haor, and completing their lunch, the family was on their way back to the mainland in the afternoon.

At around 3:00 PM, while the boat was in motion, young Nijhum accidentally lost her footing near the vessel's internal machinery compartment. She slipped and fell directly onto the heavy, uncovered running engine inside the engine room, sustaining catastrophic impact injuries. The child passed away on the spot inside the engine room before any emergency medical assistance could be administered.

Tahirpur Police Station OC  Aminul Islam stated that law enforcement officials rushed to the spot immediately upon receiving the news. Following the completion of all necessary legal and administrative formalities, the body of the child was formally handed over to her grieving father on Friday evening. The family has departed for their ancestral village in Dharmapasha to perform the final rites and cremation services.